We learnt the 10 basic consonants in Korean Hangul system this week. Each hangul is made of initial (consonants), vowels and sometimes finals (also consonants). Due to the shape of certain vowels, they are placed either to the right, or below the initial consonant. The way that I learned was that there are "bright" and "dark" vowel sounds in Korean. 오 & 아 are "bright " and 어 & 우 are "dark". The "bright" sounds are similar to when the sun is the brightest 오 (sunrise) and it then travels from the east 아. Then the "dark" sounds come in, 어 (going west) and 우 (sunset). When I imagine that with the BRIGHT sounds, my mouth is more open and wide, and with the "dark" sounds, my mouth is narrower and tighter. For example, 아 vs 어, your mouth will be wider for the "bright" sounds and narrower for the "dark" sounds and the same for 오 vs 우.
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